Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah is expected to retire from office in a month and two weeks’ time as he turns 70.
A new Chief Justice will be appointed by President Akufo-Addo to steer the helm of affairs from May 24, 2023.
It is currently unknown who Akufo-Addo will go for to replace Justice Anin Yeboah, whom he appointed in December 2019 to take over from Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo.
However, it is expected that he selects one of the 15 other Justices of the Supreme Court to be Ghana’s 15th Chief Justice.
Below are the 15 Justices likely to be appointed Chief Justice:
His Lordship Justice Jones Dotse
Justice Jones Dotse earned a law degree from the University of Ghana in 1976, and in 1978, was later awarded a BL in Law from the Ghana School of Law. He was called to the Bar in November 1978.
After three years as a state attorney, he spent 20 years in private practice. Justice Dotse served in a variety of capacities during this time while working as a lawyer, eventually reaching to the post of president of the Volta Region Bar Association. Additionally, he had a specialty in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
In 2002, he was appointed to the Bench as a High Court Judge where he served for seven years. In 2008, he was appointed as Justice of the Supreme Court of The Gambia, a position he still occupies. That same year, he was in 2008 elevated to the Supreme Court of Ghana.
He has had extensive international exposure through short courses and conferences by association with the International Bar Association (IBA),· Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI) Halifax, Canada, Special Judicial Faculty Training of the National Judicial Institute of Canada, Ottawa, and the International Visitor Programme of the United States of America.
Born in June 1953, Justice Jones Dotse turns 70, making him an unlikely substitute.
His Lordship Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie
Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie was called to the bar in 1981. He held the positions of High Court Judge in Duayaw Nkwanta and Circuit Court Judge in Kumasi. He was an Appeals Court judge before President John Kufuor appointed him to the Supreme Court in June 2008.
Paul Kwadwo Baffoe-Bonnie was on the Supreme Court panel of judges that rejected the New Patriotic Party’s request to annul roughly four million votes from the 2012 general election in Ghana because of allegations of fraud.
Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie, born in December 1956, turns 67 this year.
His Lordship Justice Gabriel Pwamang
Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang born August 1960, became a Supreme Court judge on June 29, 2015. He was nominated by former President John Dramani Mahama based on the recommendation of the Judicial Council of Ghana.
His appointment was delayed as the council of the Ghana Bar Association filed a suit to seek clarification on the appointments as other recommended judges were not appointed by the president. The process was further protracted when a member of the General Legal Council lodged a complaint against him challenging his appointment.
The complaint was later withdrawn and Pwamang was sworn into office on 29 June 2015.Prior to his Supreme Court judge role, he was a private legal practitioner and the managing partner of Pwamang and Associates. He was a member of the People’s National Convention once serving as the party’s general secretary.
His Lordship Justice Nene Abayaateye Ofoe Amegatcher
70-year-old Justice Nene Abayaateye Ofoe Amegatcher was called to the Ghana Bar in November 1980.
Nene Abayateye worked at the Nana Sarpong Ahenkorah and Company Law Firm as a Private Legal Practitioner from 1980 to 1989 while still teaching at Accra Polytechnic.
From 1987 to 1989, and from 1993 to 1995, Justice Amegatcher served as Bar Association Secretary for the Greater-Accra Region, and the Assistant Secretary of the Ghana Bar Association respectively.
In 2018, he was appointed as a Supreme Court judge by President Akufo-Addo. He is also unlikely to be offered the position.
His Lordship Justice Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey
Justice Nii Ashie Kotey was also appointed a Supreme Court judge in 2018 by President Akufo-Addo.
After obtaining his Ph.D. and LL.M from the University of London he enrolled at the Ghana School of Law and was subsequently called to the bar after completing his studies in 1982.
Before appointed a Supreme Court Judge, the 69-year-old who turns 70 in October this year worked as a lecturer at the University of Ghana from 1981. While at the university, he served as the dean of the university’s Faculty of Law and acting director of the Ghana School of Law. He also served as the Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission of Ghana from 2007 to 2009.
Her Ladyship Justice Mariama Owusu
Justice Mariama Owusu was called to the Ghana Bar in 1981 after completing her professional law examination. In Ghana, she continued into private practice with Totoe Legal Services, and Justice Owusu was appointed to the court as a district magistrate in 1990.
She got her appointment as a district court judge two years later (in 1992), and she served in that capacity for eight years before being appointed as a High Court Judge in 2000.
From 2003 to 2005, Justice Mariama served as a Supervising High Court Judge for Sunyani. Additionally, she was chosen to serve as a Judge for the Court of Appeal in 2006.
The 69-year-old served as a Court of Appeal Judge for 13 years until she was nominated by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in December 2019 to serve as a Judge in the Supreme Court.
Her Ladyship Justice Avril Lovelace Johnson
From 1988 to 1989, Justice Avril worked as an assistant state attorney in the attorney general’s office in Koforidua and Accra.
Before being appointed as a Justice for the Accra and Tema High Courts, Lovelace-Johnson spent eight years as a District Magistrate after being appointed to that position in 1994.
Until she was appointed a Court of Appeal Justice in 2012, she also worked as the Justice for the Accra and Tema High Courts for ten years.
Prior to that, she served The Gambia from 2005 to 2009 as a Justice of the High Court and an additional Court of Appeal Justice, both positions held by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
On December 17, 2019, Lovelace-Johnson, 62, was promoted to a Supreme Court Judge after a rigorous nomination and vetting process.
Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo
Justice Gertrude Torkornoo who turns 62 in September completed her Professional course in law at the Ghana School of Law in 1986.
She holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, USA and a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in International Law and Organizations from the then International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague, Netherlands.
After law school in 1986, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo did her national service with the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Legal Aid Center in Accra. Her pupillage was with Fugar & Co, where she went on to become an Associate and later, a Director of the firm. In January 1997, she set up Sozo Law Consult and became the Managing Partner.
After 18 years of law practice, Justice Torkornoo was invited to join the judiciary in 2004 as a Justice of the High Court of Ghana. In October 2012, she was promoted to the Court of Appeal and rose to become a Justice of the Supreme Court, the apex court, in 2019 after her appointment by President Akufo-Addo.
She is well known for being one of the Supreme Court judges who presided over the 2020 presidential petition case between John Dramani Mahama and the Electoral Commission and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
His Lordship Justice Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu
Justice Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu worked as a lawyer in Nigeria for 19 years after gaining some practical experience with Azinyo Chambers located in Accra.
He then founded his own firm and became the Principal of Amadu & Co. in 1997 and after the Senior Partner Amadu, Ansah-Obiri & Co.
Later, he was appointed the Justice of the High Court between 2008 and 2012. He became an Appeal court judge in 2012.
The 64-year-old was sworn-in as a Supreme Court Judge in May 2020 after his nomination by President Akufo-Addo, becoming the first Muslim to serve on Ghana’s apex court.
Her Ladyship Justice Prof. Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko Mensa-Bonsu
Justice Prof. Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko Mensa-Bonsu who turns 65 in October obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) in 1985.
She became a full law lecturer at the University of Ghana in 2002, and in 2003 was elected as a fellow into the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was elected President of the Academy in 2019.
Mensa-Bonsu was nominated by President Akufo-Addo for consideration for appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court of Ghana. She was sworn-in on May 26, 2020.
His Lordship Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi
Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi earned a bachelor of law degree in 1992. In 1994, he obtained a barrister-at-law at the Ghana School of Law.
He holds a master of arts degree in International Security and Civil-Military Relations from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, United States.
Kulendi is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Africa Leadership Initiative-West Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He also served as an examiner at the Ghana School of Law.
In March 2020, the 59-year-old was nominated by President Akufo-Addo to be made a Justice of the Supreme Court. He was approved by Parliament and was sworn into office on Tuesday 26 May 2020.
Her Ladyship Justice Barbara F. Ackah Yensu
In 1981, the 68-year-old was called to the bar. She later entered private practice working with companies such as Lynes Quarshie-Idun & Co., National Investment Bank (NIB), among others.
Ackah-Yensu was sworn in as a Justice of the High Court of Ghana on Tuesday, September 16, 2003. Up until 2005, when she was moved to the Commercial Court, she was posted in the Tema High Court. She remained in that position up to her appointment as Justice of the Appeals Court of Ghana in October 2012.
On July 4, 2022, the president proposed Ackah-Yensu as a candidate for the Supreme Court on the recommendation of the Judicial Council and after consulting with the Council of State. Following approval from Parliament, she was sworn into office by President Akufo-Addo in December 2022.
His Lordship Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu
Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu who turns 65 years in October was called to the bar in 1992. He later had his post-tertiary National Service at Legal Aid/Oyirifie Chambers in Koforidua.
As a legal officer, he began working for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in 1994. He began his employment with the Ghanaian Judicial Service in 1996 as a magistrate and held that position until 2002, when he was promoted to Circuit Court judge.
In 2006, he was appointed a justice of the High Court and began sitting in Accra’s Fast Track (Automated) High Court and Commercial Court.
He worked in this capacity until 2019 when he was appointed justice of the Court of Appeal of Ghana. While serving on the bench of Appeals Court, he worked as a Senior Lecturer of the Ghana School of Law from 2020 until his appointment to the Supreme Court bench in 2022.
His Lordship Justice George Kingsley Koomson
The 60-year-old graduated with an LLB in 1987 from the University of Ghana. In October 1989, he obtained his Bar qualification from the Ghana School of Law.
Justice Koomson joined the Attorney General’s department as an Assistant State Attorney in November 1990. In 1994, he was promoted to the position of State Attorney and later transferred to the Drafting Division of the Attorney General’s Department. He however resigned from the position after six months and entered private practice with Michel’s Barton and Partners until 2000 when he was appointed a circuit judge.
In March 2008, he was appointed a High Court Judge. Five years later, he was appointed to the Accra Commercial Court. He served in the Accra Commercial Court until August 2020 when he was appointed as a justice of the Appeals Court of Ghana
Justice Koomson was nominated by President Akufo-Addo in consultation with the Judicial Council and the Council of State for the Supreme Court on 4 July 2022.
He was sworn into office as justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana on 5 April 2023 by the president.
His Lordship Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu
Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu studied law at the University of Ghana in 1995. He then proceeded to the Ghana School of Law and was called to the bar in 2000.
Gaewu, after completing his legal education, worked at Mawulorm Chambers in the Volta Region. After working in private practice for about two decades, Gaewu was appointed justice of the High Court.
From that position, he received nomination from President Akufo-Addo for the Supreme Court in July 2022.
He was later sworn into office as Justice of the Supreme Court on April 5, 2023.
Source: The Independent Ghana